The present invention relates generally to temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) which are adapted to be fixedly secured to roadway surfaces in order to, for example, temporarily define traffic lanes or the like, and more particularly to a new and improved machine for automatically removing the protective coverings from the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) in order to in fact ready the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) for actual traffic use upon the roadway surfaces.
Various types of roadway markers have been utilized in connection with a variety of traffic control applications. Many roadway markers are adapted to be permanently attached or secured to the road surface so as to permanently delineate traffic lanes upon the roadway, while other roadway markers are adapted to be temporarily attached or secured to particular road surfaces in order to temporarily delineate traffic lanes within construction zones or other work areas. Accordingly, the latter type of roadway markers are known as temporary roadway markers and are usually attached or secured to the road surface by means of a suitable adhesive that can retain the roadway marker in its place upon the road surface during the temporary life of the roadway marker. More particularly, temporary roadway markers can serve, for example, as a means for identifying edge portions of the roadway, or alternatively, to delineate traffic lane lines and thereby demarcate separate lanes of traffic from each other in and around construction sites and other work zones. After the construction or other road work is completed, the temporary roadway markers are to be removed.
To be effective, the temporary roadway markers must clearly be capable of alerting motorists to the fact that they are nearing or entering a construction zone or work area, and therefore, the temporary roadway markers must in fact be effective both during daytime hours, nighttime hours, sunny conditions, cloudy conditions, inclement weather conditions, and the like. More particularly, one type of temporary roadway marker that has been extremely successful or effective in providing short-term temporary markings upon roadways both during daytime and nighttime hours, and which has also been able to adequately withstand the various im-pact forces that are normally impressed thereon by daily roadway vehicular traffic so as to in fact provide the desired service life required in connection with the installation of such temporary roadway markers, has been that type of temporary roadway marker which is known in the industry as a temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM). Examples of such temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) are disclosed, for example, within U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,820 which issued to Hughes, Sr. on Aug. 29, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,405 which issued to Beard on Aug. 4, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,115 which issued to Speer et al. on Oct. 24, 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,994 which issued to Edouart on Feb. 12, 1991, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,803 which issued to Dixon on May 1, 1984.
As can readily be appreciated from FIG. 1, which corresponds substantially to FIG. 1 of the Speer et al. patent, it is briefly noted that an exemplary temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 10 is seen to have a substantially L-shaped configuration wherein the horizontally disposed leg portion 12 thereof is adapted to be fixedly secured or attached to the road surface by means of a suitable adhesive which is allowed to set, while the vertically upstanding leg portion 14 is adapted to be visually seen by the oncoming motorist. A transition region 26 flexibly interconnects the vertically upstanding leg portion 14 to the fixed leg portion or base member 12. A pair of rib members or ledges 28,28 extend substantially perpendicular to the upstanding leg member 14 and serve to define a space or channel 22 therebetween. A suitable reflective strip 23 is adapted to be fixedly disposed within the space or channel 22 so as to reflect sunlight or a vehicle""s lights in order to provide the oncoming motorist, as indicated by the arrow 25, with a visual indication that the motorist is approaching or entering a construction zone or work area. Alternatively, in lieu of the reflective strip 23, the entire marker 10 may simply be brightly colored so as to similarly provide the oncoming motorist with the necessary visual warning.
With reference being further made to FIG. 2, a temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM), which is similar to the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 10 disclosed in FIG. 1 of the present drawings as well as within FIG. 1 of the Speer et al. patent, is disclosed at 110 and is seen to likewise have a substantially L-shaped configuration. In particular, the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 comprises a horizontally disposed leg or base member 112, and a vertically upstanding leg member 114 integrally connected to the horizontally disposed leg or base member 112 by means of a transitional region 116. An adhes-ive pad 118 is fixedly secured to an undersurface or lower face portion of the horizontally disposed leg or base member 112, and in turn a release sheet 120 is secured to an under-surface or lower face portion of the adhesive pad 118 so as to prevent the adhesive pad 118 from being inadvertently adhesively bonded to any surface, other than that particular location or portion of the roadway to which the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 is to be fixedly secured, prior to the actual fixation of the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 upon a selected location or portion of the roadway. As was the case with the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 10 of FIG. 1 of the present drawings as well as those of Speer et al., the upper end portion of the vertically upstanding leg member 114 of the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 also comprises a pair of horizontally disposed rib members 122,122 which define a space or channel 124 therebetween for housing or accommodating a suitable reflector strip, not shown. Alternatively, the entire extrusion comprising the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 may be fabricated from a suitable plastic material which is brightly colored, that is, it may be fabricated from a suitable resin material which is white or yellow.
The temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) 110 are normally placed upon the roadway surface during an extended period of time that construction or other road work is being performed upon the roadway surface, and therefore prior to the completion of the entire construction or other road work as well as the application of the permanent traffic lane lines to the roadway surface. Accordingly, in order to protect the reflector strip, not shown, which is adapted to be disposed, housed, or accommodated within the space or channel 124 defined between the pair of horizontally disposed rib members 122,122, or alternatively, in order to protect the upper portion of the vertically upstanding leg member 114 when such portion of the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 is to be used as the visual warning to on-coming motorists, from road paving materials, debris, and the like, a protective cover 126, fabricated from a suitable clear plastic material and having a substantially inverted U-shaped configuration, is disposed over the upper free edge portion of the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110. When the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) 110 are to be subsequently used in conjunction with, for example, their traffic lane delineation functions, the protective covers 126 must be removed, and still further, when the need for the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) 110 is no longer required in view of the completion of the construction or other roadwork, and the application of the permanent traffic lane lines to the roadway surface, the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) 110 must also be removed from the roadway surface. Until now, such removal processes were accomplished manually whereby construction workmen or other personnel would have to manually remove the protective covers 126 and subsequently sever or otherwise remove the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) 110 from the roadway surface. Obviously, such procedures are quite tedious and time-consuming. In addition, in view of the fact that the construction workmen or other personnel need to be physically present upon the particular roadway surface during the performance of such protective cover and temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) removal operations, the workmen or personnel are unnecessarily exposed to dangerous vehicular conditions present upon the roadway.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved device, machine, or apparatus for automatically removing the protective covers from the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) disposed upon the roadway surfaces, whereby the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) can be used for their traffic line, delineation, or demarcation purposes, whereby the protective covers can be removed from the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) disposed upon the roadway surfaces in a relatively rapid manner, whereby the construction workmen or other operator personnel do not need to tediously perform such removal operations manually, and in addition, and just as importantly, whereby the operator personnel or construction workers will not be needlessly exposed to dangerous roadway conditions presented by oncoming automotive vehicular traffic.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved device or apparatus for automatically removing the protective covers from temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) adhesive bonded to roadway surfaces.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved device or apparatus for automatically removing the protective covers from temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) adhesively bonded to roadway surfaces whereby the operational drawbacks and disadvantages characteristic of the PRIOR ART techniques currently employed for removing the protective covers from the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) are effectively overcome.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved device, machine, or apparatus for removing the protective covers from the vertically upstanding leg members of temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) adhesively bonded to roadway surfaces wherein the protective covers of the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) can be automatically removed from the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM).
A further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved device or apparatus for removing the protective covers from temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) adhesively bonded to roadway surfaces wherein the protective covers of the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) can be automatically removed from the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) such that construction workers or other operator personnel do not have to manually remove such protective covers from the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) in a tedious and relatively slow manner.
A last object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved device or apparatus for removing the protective covers from the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) adhesively bonded to roadway surfaces wherein the protective covers of the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) can be automatically removed from the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) such that the construction workers or other operator personnel do not have to manually remove such protective covers from the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) and thereby not be unnecessarily exposed to dangerous roadway conditions presented by oncoming automotive vehicular traffic.
The foregoing and other objectives are achieved in accordance with the teachings and principles of the present invention through the provision of a new and improved device, machine, or apparatus for automatically removing the protective covers from the vertically oriented leg members of temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM), adhesively bonded to the roadway surfaces, which comprises a platform upon the front end of which a mounting plate is bolted or otherwise fastened for rotatably supporting a pair of front wheel assemblies. A pair of trailer hitch bracket assemblies are also fixedly secured upon the mounting plate so as to permit the device, machine, or apparatus to be towed by means of a roadwork vehicle or truck. A plurality of combs, each having a plurality of teeth integrally formed thereon, are mounted upon a drive chain which is rotatably disposed beneath a forward end portion of the platform and which is adapted to encounter and remove the protective covers disposed upon the vertically oriented leg members of the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM). The chain drive and toothed combs are adapted to be driven by means of a suitable drive motor, mounted upon an upper surface portion of the platform, and a pair of sprockets operatively engaged with the drive chain.
A blower is also mounted upon an upper surface portion of the platform, and an intake or suction duct, fluidically connected to the intake side of the blower, passes through a rear end portion of the platform so as to be fluidically connected to a suction or intake port defined within the underside of the platform. In this manner, the protective covers removed from the upper reflective portions of the vertically upstanding leg members of the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) may be conveyed to a suitable debris collection bag or container. In conjunction with the collection and removal of the severed portions of the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM), a plurality of brushes are arranged in a substantially continuous manner around substantially the entire periphery of the platform, except for the front end portion thereof, so as to effectively form or define a dependent curtain which extends vertically downwardly from the lower edge portion of the platform for operative engagement with the roadway surface as the device, apparatus, or machine is moved along the roadway surface. In addition, the platform, and therefore the brush curtain, has a convergent or tapered configuration, as considered in the direction extending from the front end portion thereof to the rear end portion thereof, and therefore, the protective covers removed from the vertically upstanding reflective portions of the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPM) are automatically funneled or herded toward the suction intake duct operatively associated with the blower so as to be accordingly removed and discharged into the collection bin or container.